The invention relates to a coolant and chip separator apparatus. In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus to enable waste coolant and metal machining chips, produced during machining processes, to be separated so that the coolant can be reused on the machine and the chips dumped to waste.
The present invention has particular application to plate cutting machines which utilise a cutting head requiring a liquid coolant known in the art as ‘wet cutting’. However, it should be understood that the present invention also has application to wet cutting machines which may also be adapted to additionally undertake thermal cutting (i.e. dry cutting) operations.
On some metal plate cutting machines capable of both wet and dry cutting, the bridge of the cutting machine may be fitted with dry cutting tools such as laser, oxy fuel and/or plasma cutting torches to produce the part profile and sever the part from the parent plate, as well as one or more spindles capable of high speeds for machining operations such as milling, drilling, counterboring, tapping, threading and related operations.
Currently these machines do not incorporate a method of removing and separating the chips (aka swarf) and coolant used in machining operations and lack the ability to reuse coolant. Typically, the chips and coolant are left on the plate being cut or fall into the table supporting the plate, requiring manual removal at a later time.
Some previous attempts to solve this problem have involved the use of multiple separate devices to perform different separation processes. Such systems are disadvantageous in that they are expensive to produce and maintain as well as taking up a large amount of space.
All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinency of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art, in New Zealand or in any other country.
Throughout this specification, the word “comprise”, or variations thereof such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
It is one object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus for separating used coolant from the chips produced during machining operations. Another particular object is to separate the chips and eject to a waste container to enable the coolant to be reused.
It will be appreciated that other advantages and objects of the invention may be inherent in the invention as claimed, although not specifically detailed herein.
Alternatively, it is an object of the present invention to address at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or at least provide the public with a useful choice.